Blood and Chocolate
by Ourania
Summary: It has been three years since the destruction of Meteor and everyone is getting back to their normal lives. But when Cloud is kidnapped the gang must reunite to save the planet and their friend from destruction.


"W-We have him sir." The hooded man stuttered, gaze locked on the marble floor, "H-He was quite strong but we m-managed to overcome him."  
  
He spoke to his master, a man who stood silent, half-hidden in the shadows of a ruined mansion in a town known as Nibelheim.  
  
"Did you now?" the voice was soft as silk but it made the servant's blood turn to ice, "Then I would like to see him immediately."  
  
The black cloaked man nodded vigorously, rushing out of his master's sight, visibly relieved to have left.  
  
Not long after the servant disappeared a struggling man was forced into the room, arms caught behind him by iron chains that attached to the metal shackles on his feet. He was bloodied and bruised but obviously not ready to give up fighting.  
  
The man with the silken voice smiled, although there was enough venom packed into the simple gesture to know what ever ensued next would be decidedly unpleasant.  
  
"What do you want?" The spiky-blonde haired man growled, glaring into the shadows as he tried to make out a face. "What am I here for?"  
  
An amused chuckle made the shackled man's eyes widen, there was something in that laugh, something dangerous and cruel that tugged on his memories. Where had he heard it before?  
  
"You may leave." The silken voice growled at the two servants who remained in the room. The two looked at each other then back at the spiky-haired youth, doubt shadowing their eyes.  
  
"Sir, he's a dangerous one, he took out Garret like he was nothin', don' cha think we should-"  
  
"Get out." The man's voice was no longer soft or pleasant, now it possessed a steel edge, a tone as dangerous as a coiled serpent, "Or I will send you out in pieces."  
  
The men whimpered apologies as they turned tail and ran quickly out the door, shutting it a little too firmly behind them in their rush to escape their master's wrath.  
  
"Like dogs." The man murmured in the shadows, drawing a thin silver blade out of its leather sheath at his side, "They rush out with their tails between their legs when I raise my voice, don't you agree, Cloud?"  
  
"How do you know my name?" Cloud demanded, unsure as to why his stomach was churning and his legs shaky, "What do you want with me?"  
  
"To put it in simple terms," the man seemed to be examining the sword in the dim light, having yet to step into the luminosity of the moon. "I want you to die."  
  
"Well why don't you let me out of these chains and we'll-"  
  
A bone-chilling laugh cut him off, "I don't think so." The man sniggered, "Not yet."  
  
"Who are you?" Cloud asked finally after a long silence, needing to know the thought that was forming in his mind was not correct.  
  
The man stepped out of the shadows, thin blade held loosely in his left hand while the other was held placed on his hip. Hair so pale it could only be called white fell down in his back in soft tendrils, so long it would have looked girlish if his face had not been so obviously masculine. He was tall, but not exceedingly so, on a dark night he would have been almost invisible. But Cloud failed to notice all of these traits, his eyes had locked onto one thing from the very start.  
  
His eyes were a brilliant Mako blue.  
  
"You were dead." Cloud whispered disbelievingly, "I killed you myself."  
  
Sephiroth smiled widely, eyes wild with insanity as he advanced upon the stunned ex- SOLDIER, "Your people say that death is the end, the ultimate conclusion, you believe that it acquits you of all obligation," he smirked, raising his sword above Cloud's head, "My people do not agree."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The sounds of the waterfall were calming, the smell of water instead of the scent of fresh blood soothing him more than words could express. How long had it been since he had come here? A year? Two perhaps? He did not know, could not recall. Time to him meant nothing, years passed like days, days like minutes. It could not touch him; it was only able to watch him while he slowly forgot it existed.  
  
His eyes focused suddenly as a small sound reached his keen ears. He turned quickly from his sitting position, metal claws raised threateningly in order to distract his unknown enemy while his other hand artfully removed Death Penalty from its hiding place in his cloak.  
  
Nothing was there, just a small rock that had been dislodged from the ceiling of the cavern by the rapid rush of the waterfall.  
  
Vincent replaced the gun forcefully back into its holder, disgusted at his own paranoia although it had been the only thing that had kept him alive for so long. He shook his head, smiling grimly as he mentally backtracked. Technically he was not alive, he was merely a walking experiment gone horribly wrong.  
  
He glanced at his reflection in the smoothed granite of the floor, finding angry emotions arise at the sight. Loathing clawed up his throat at his appearance, a genuine hate at what Hojo had done to him some thirty years ago blooming at this form before him. The ruby colored eyes that stared back at him made him sick inside, the arm of bronze a gleaming testament to the loss of his humanity.  
  
A stray wind found its way into the closed quarters of Lucrecia's waterfall, wrapping around the red clothed man and sending a spray of water into his crimson colored eyes. He sighed, something he did often, as the droplets tickled his face, trailing down his cheeks like the tears he could never shed.  
  
"Why do you come here?" Lucrecia's voice was faint, not amplified by the cavern walls in the least, "Why do you linger?"  
  
He flinched, an old pain deep within his chest slowly reopening, like the petals of a dark red rose. Her voice alone enough to do this to him, but he risked looking up at her from his sitting position on the cold stone floor, purposely avoiding her eyes. He could not bear to see how they had changed from being trapped here, in this cave of crystalline beauty.  
  
They stood for a moment, droplets of water making their way through his heavy clothing while his eyes remained firmly set on her transparent mouth. He felt the need to kiss them, even now. "I do not know." He said finally, bringing his knees up to his chest and laying his head down, "Perhaps I come to remember."  
  
"There is nothing here worth remembering." Her voice was callous and bitter, "Everything here is cursed."  
  
He closed his eyes in sadness, "Then I belong here more than anything else."  
  
There was silence, broken only by the sounds of the waterfall, and when he opened his eyes again the transparent woman was gone.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Come on now Soren," Tifa pleaded with the black chocobo softly, "Just a couple more steps?"  
  
The giant bird warbled out a soft note but refused to budge, its chicken- like feet firmly planted to the rocky terrain.  
  
Her chocolate colored eyes narrowed in annoyance, "Oh come on! You're a chocobo; your main purpose in life is to carry people!"  
  
Soren looked at her with his big blue eyes, letting out another soft, pathetic noise and Tifa sighed. "I hate it when you do that," she murmured, "It's not like I'm working you too hard or anything."  
  
The chocobo seemed to consider this; head cocked to the side as though in thought, and then began to walk again, slowly but surely.  
  
"Honestly." Tifa sighed in exasperation, putting a hand to her face, "You would think a trip from Nibelheim to Costa Del Sol would take less time on a chocobo."  
  
Soren pointedly ignored her last statement, treading at his usual sluggish speed. Tifa buried her face in his neck, her eyes drifting shut against the soft coal colored feathers. "You would make nice pillow stuffing." She remarked, making the chocobo chirp crossly, his plodding pace becoming slightly faster.  
  
Tifa smiled, allowing her tired eyes to close, the journey would seem faster if she fell asleep she reasoned with herself. She reached into the saddle pack at her side, untangling a length of rope from its depths. Tifa wrapped the rope around middle twice, then, left with the slack, she passed it across the startled Soren's chest. "I'm just going to tie myself so I don't fall off." She explained to the chocobo, tying a knot to secure herself. "Just don't go too fast okay?"  
  
Soren turned his beak up at the mocking tone she had just used, his steady pace not picking up in the least.  
  
"Night, Soren." Tifa yawned. She leaned into the chocobo's neck and was almost instantly asleep.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Vincent had left the Crystal Cave soon after Lucrecia's disappearance, heart aching with sorrow.  
  
Death, the word flickered through his mind, even as he tried to turn his thoughts away from it. Vincent knew of the thin line between life and death, he had seen many people pass over it during the years. Sometimes he wondered why he didn't cross that line, it wasn't fear he knew, he had no compunction about death, did not shirk from it's presence like most. His dark humor realized that death owed him, if only for the special deliveries he had made to it during his unnatural life.  
  
He sat down on the rocky ground, Lucrecia's waterfall still in his view, and took his shotgun out of its holster. He glanced at it, the silver-blue metal gleaming dimly in the half-light of the crescent moon. The Death Penalty, a bitter smirk appeared on his face at so fitting a name, it had sent plenty of creatures, both beast and human, into their graves.  
  
He wondered, briefly, if he could be killed with a gun, if the bullets would penetrate his pale hide enough to end his bleak existence in a single instant. He visualized what it would look like as the silver shells bit through his skin, the bloody mess that would ensue as they broke past bone to pierce the vital organs. He thought of the pain.  
  
The thought flew out of his mind as quickly as it had come, almost as though it were forced.  
  
"You aren't thinking about getting rid of us are you?" a honeyed voice questioned him, making him shudder. "That would be a bad idea little Vincent."  
  
"I don't believe I invited you to talk to me Chaos." He retorted, eyes flashing angrily as he put the demon back into its rightful place. "In fact, I don't think I even sent a questing thought in your direction."  
  
Chaos faded away from his mind, maliciously spouting a few last words before he was completely locked away, "I won't be ignored much longer Vincent," the demon hissed, venom dripping from its voice, "And one of these days I will no longer need to be invited."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Tifa woke to the sound of light rain and the unpleasant feeling of something chewing on her hair.  
  
"Stupid chocobo." She mumbled sleepily, swatting Soren away, "That wasn't a very nice wake up call."  
  
The black chocobo evaded her hand, grabbing another lock of her hair in its beak.  
  
"Enough!" Tifa growled, awake now and busying herself with rescuing her hair from the depths of Soren's mouth, "You're hungry, I get it, okay? I'll feed you!"  
  
Soren obligingly released her hair, giving her a stately nod of acceptance. Then, in one smooth motion, he leaned his elegant neck down, snapping his jaw shut on the rope that had held his owner during their journey, and dumped her unceremoniously onto the ground.  
  
Tifa sat on the ground a moment, slightly dazed and annoyed, unsure whether to laugh or to scream. She sighed, gracefully rising from her position on the ground to wipe the water and grass off of her skirt. Her russet colored eyes locked onto Soren's aqua blue ones, narrowing dangerously, "You know," she said conversationally, a wicked grin spreading across her face, "I've heard chocobo meat is a rare delicacy with just a pinch of rosemary and some of Midgar's famous red wine."  
  
Soren grew visibly uneasy, his three-toed feet shifting nervously on the ground; he let out a heart wrenching, "Warp?"  
  
Tifa's expression melted, a more genial smile lighting up her face, "Oh I was just kidding you big baby." She giggled, patting the wary black chocobo, "Do you honestly think that I would eat you?"  
  
Soren warbled and lifted his wings up in the equivalent of a chocobo's shrug, then began to examine the grassy plains for anything edible.  
  
Tifa left the chocobo to his scavenging as she glanced about herself to see exactly how far they had gotten. A fine mist had descended upon the grassy area and that combined with the delicate fall of rain was serving to make her incredibly cold.  
  
Costa Del Sol appeared to her suddenly, a small warm feeling grew within her heart. She was home. Cloud was waiting for her.  
  
"Come on, Soren!" she called to the chocobo, "Let's go home!"  
  
Soren loosed a loud, agreeing 'warp', then rushed toward Tifa, intending for her to either get on or walk the rest of the way.  
  
"Oh great." Tifa murmured, bending her knees and holding out her arms as Soren came close. She grabbed the rope that served as reins and jumped, hauling her body up onto the back of the chocobo with a practiced ease.  
  
"I think I would make a terrific chocobo racer," Tifa said smugly, holding her nose up in the air, "I could beat the pros."  
  
Soren snorted out something that sounded suspiciously like a differing opinion.  
  
"I didn't ask for your input." Tifa sniffed, trying not to laugh and failing miserably. "Perhaps I should consider trying the old chocobo recipe I have in the cupboard."  
  
The chocobo sensed it was a half-hearted threat; his mistress was far too busy envisioning her lover to make it seem like much more. But Soren sensed something was amiss, something not quite right in the resort town of Costa Del Sol. He wanted to warn his owner, but he knew that his language of warps and soft trills would escape her understanding.  
  
He contemplated the situation, remaining silent.  
  
"Alright Soren." Tifa's voice rang out happily from his back, "You can stop now."  
  
The chocobo did so, albeit reluctantly.  
  
"I'll call for you again so listen for it, okay?" She dismounted, patting the chocobo's neck. "Have fun until then."  
  
Soren tilted his head, staring her straight in the eyes with the most serious expression he could muster. Tifa blinked in puzzlement at his behavior, but she shrugged it off, more quickly than she usually would, due to her anticipation of seeing Cloud.  
  
"Bye, Soren." She hugged the black chocobo's head and then ran into the town, unaware of the fact that the object of her desire was no longer there to meet her.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Cloud!" she called, "I'm home! Why did you turn all the lights out?"  
  
She half expected him to have some surprise awaiting her, but when a candle and chocolate bearing Cloud failed to appear she realized he was probably out.  
  
She refused to pout, although she really wanted to, and began to turn on the lights in her home.  
  
She took off her leather jacket, lying it down on the couch and turned to go into the kitchen. Tifa grabbed a pint of some chocolate ice cream out of her hidden stash in the freezer, knowing full well that Cloud's snide remark about her eating when she was depressed was true even though at the time she had denied it.  
  
When she pulled her head out of the refrigerator an odd differing of colors on the wall caught her attention, the soft baby blue wallpaper was warped by a darker shade. As she approached it, spoon of ice cream already in her mouth, she realized it was a small spidery kind of writing.  
  
Her chocolate colored eyes widened and the frozen dessert fell from her suddenly nerveless fingers to splatter all over the silver-gray floor. Tifa didn't even move toward the mess, every part of her being intent upon the inscription that's meaning was snaking its way through her consciousness, making her tremble violently.  
  
The letters were written in blood, the bright red aged into a dull, dead brown.  
  
'THE ONE WINGED ANGEL RETURNS,' it declared boldly even though it was small in size, 'ETERNAL REDEMPTION DRAWS NEAR.'  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Author's Notes: Well that isn't quite what I wanted but its 9:00 on a Thursday night and I have tons of homework to do.  
  
Thanks to everyone who will read and review. Please be brutally honest, this may be my first Final Fantasy 7 fic but if it sucks that's just how it is.  
  
If the reviews are good I might write another chapter, hell, I might even give this thing a name. Until then I'll sob quietly in a corner of my room.  
  
Thanks for reading.  
  
-- Alanna 


End file.
